Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Anti-crime advocates: Why is the Church and CHR silent on Dengvaxia issue?

Dante Jimenez, the chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), commented that there seemed to be a lack of reaction from the Church and Commission of Human Rights towards the anti-dengue immunization program of the Aquino administration compared to the issue of extrajudicial killings (EJK) of the current administration.

Dante Jimenez / Photo from Google

“I’m just asking why CBCP, CHR and other righteous groups are silent on the Dengvaxia issue that has killed a number of children and has put the health of almost a million school children at risk,” Jimenez said.

“They have been claiming that the killings were state sponsored, but that has yet to be proven. But they are silent on Dengvaxia which was clearly funded by the Aquino government,” Jimenez added.

Over P3.5 billion was spent on purchasing the Dengvaxia vaccine but then it was known that the vaccine was not fully tested.

Jimenez says that the mistake of the Aquino administration can also be considered as a state-sponsored killing.

“There is no doubt that Dengvaxia is EJK,” Jimenez said. “I challenge the CBCP, CHR and other human rights advocates to come out and show their support for the thousands of vaccine victims.”

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) conducted autopsies on the 14 children who died after being vaccinated with Dengvaxia and the report said that they died 6 months after receiving it.

The University of the Philippine – Philippine General Hospital on the other hand that did separate examinations reported that the none of the deaths of the 14 children were due to Dengvaxia.

The government demanded a full refund from the Sanofi Pasteur in order for it to be indemnification fund for the victims. Pasteur, however, rejected the demand and said that if they complied, they would be admitting that the product was ineffective.

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Sommittee on Health and Demography called on Sanofi for being “insensitive” and not taking accountability.

“It is disappointing that Sanofi would rather seek legal cover than ensure that their consumers are protected,” Ejercito said.